HSUS Appears To Have A Powerful Friend Within the IRS

When it comes to business, sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. The Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) appears to have a powerful friend[3] within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It's Lois Lerner, who serves as director of the in the IRS Exempt Organizations Division, and is also a proud member and supporter of HSUS[4].

Lerner has been a popular name in the headlines lately, after a press conference where she confessed, “I’m not good at math.” Wait, an IRS[5] employee is bad at math? Does that make sense?

The press conference was held to address the IRS admission that it inappropriately targeted conservative groups seeking non-profit status from the agency. Lerner was unable to answer questions about political bias behind the targeting of these groups, but the IRS is admitting that such abuse has been occurring.

It’s quite evident that if you are disliked by the IRS[6], you will most certainly be overly scrutinized, taxed and audited, but if you are a bedfellow with this government agency, you might just be exempt from paying in at all.

That’s exactly what might be happening with HSUS[7], given the organization’s cozy relationship with Lerner and the IRS. Even though several members of Congress have written letters to the IRS requesting that IRS investigate the questionable tax-exempt status of HSUS, there has been no action. It makes you wonder if it’s time to look closer at Lerner and her HSUS ties.

Note that HSUS[8] spends less than 1% of its $150-million annual budget actually supporting animal shelters, despite raising millions from consumers via heart-wrenching commercials about homeless and abused pets. Meanwhile, the organization continues to spend bundles of money lobbying and launching ballot initiative campaigns attacking American agriculture. Their promise to save puppies and kittens is nothing more than a smoke screen to hide the true agenda of eliminating meat, dairy and eggs from the dinner table by regulating farmers and ranchers out of business.

A great blog post at Protect The Harvest explains how the IRS has increased its scrutiny of political organizations -- namely the ones they don’t like -- while it lets HSUS slide. Check it out all the details here. [9]

As Protect The Harvest aptly states, “Only time will tell, but hardworking American taxpayers deserve answers. Government shouldn’t be picking favorites and the IRS should be applying the same rules to everyone.”

What do you think about the IRS targeting certain organizations over others? Why do you suppose an investigation of HSUS[10] has yet to be conducted in full? Do you think Lerner’s affiliation with HSUS has anything to do with it? Weigh in by leaving your thoughts in the comments section below.